LANSING — Michigan's foreclosure activity has slowed to levels last seen before the housing crisis, but bank-owned properties still accounted for nearly one-fifth of all home sales last year.

Meanwhile, overall home sales and prices continued to rise in the Great Lakes state.

Michigan had the nation's 17th highest foreclosure rate of one out of every 104 houses, according to RealtyTrac's foreclosure market report. Nationally, foreclosure filings dropped 26 percent for a rate of rate was one out of 96.

There were 43,407 properties with at least one foreclosure-related filing in Michigan last year, down 43 percent from 2012. That's the lowest going back to 2005, said RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist.

But on the other hand, bank-owned properties accounted for 18.4 percent of all sales in 2013, second only to Nevada at 20.4 percent.

"There are not a lot of new foreclosures entering the pipeline, but the pipeline is still very full of properties that have been foreclosed on in last seven or eight years and still have not been absorbed by the housing market there," Blomquist said.

That's partly because Michigan's foreclosed properties tend to be older, smaller and less desirable to buyers, he said.

Overall, the number of homes sold grew about 4.5 percent to an estimated 165,875 in Michigan, according to RealtyTrac. The median sale price was $99,900 in December 2013, up 25 percent over $80,000 in December 2012. The national median price rose 2 percent to $168,391 in December.

Low interest rates helped drive sales in 2013, along with the fact that fewer homeowners were upside down on their mortgages, said Debbie Barnett, CEO of Tomie Raines Inc. in East Lansing. She said new construction has been strong in the Lansing area, and increasing rental prices are pushing some younger buyers into the market. The challenge for 2014, she said, will be a low inventory of homes.

The proportion of short sales grew to 8.4 percent of all home sales in 2013, the fourth-highest in the country. Michigan also ranked fourth for cash sales at 38.4 percent. Cash sales, meaning buyers don't use any mortgage or financing, are typically a mix of investors looking to flip homes for a profit, investors who want to rent out the homes, and people who may not want to deal with stricter financing rules, Blomquist said.

He said cash sales can be good in the sense that people are willing to put their own money down on a home, but they also can push out buyers who rely on financing, and those buyers need to be involved to return the market to full health.